Even after you have converted a lead into a customer, you do not get to slack one bit. Now is the time for you to validate your new customer’s purchasing decision by welcoming them with a brilliant onboarding process. Your customer is usually clueless about how to use your product. The onboarding process helps them understand how your product works and how it can benefit their business specifically. Here’s a list of the top 10 customer onboarding tools to check out in 2020.
Why is a customer onboarding tool pivotal to your business success?
Customers who use the product and achieve a goal are more likely to be happy with the product. So it is essential that you offer moments of achievement to a lead as soon as they become a customer.
Customer onboarding is a series of steps that you take to show your customers how they can work with the product, train them, and let them take any action that positively affects the client’s business. It can also include self-help guides, tutorials, ways to use the software, set up processes, and so on.
Leveraging the services of a customer onboarding tool will make it smooth and effective for the new customer.
What can a customer onboarding tool do?
A customer onboarding tool is a game-saver if used well. It can not only accelerate the customer onboarding process, it will also provide a better understanding for the customer on how to use the product effectively. Here are 10 amazing customer onboarding tools that will guide your customers step-by-step.
Customer onboarding tool #1. WalkMe:
Without having to install anything, you will be able to build tutorials for users. If you think of it, it actually walks users through virtual tours. They don’t have a one-size-fits-all solution but ensures that they provide personalized experiences which will create a great onboarding experience for the user.
The WalkMe for Product software ensures that it drives adoption of your product for web and mobile applications. It increases retention and thanks to its easy-to-understand interface; the users get the ability to perform the service themselves. It lets you add an interactive on-screen tutorial for your website or app, which helps the customers to walkthrough on how to use the product.
Features of Walkme:
- Provides you with an analytics dashboard
- It also offers employee onboarding programs
- Offers digital transformation capabilities
- Help desk integration
- Advanced API support
- Multiple support options and domains
Customer onboarding tool #2. AppCues:
It is one of the best onboarding tools for SaaS businesses as you can put up sticky tooltips on your website. There are a lot of customization options available in the AppCues onboarding tool, which makes the life of your new customer much easier. You can create personalized onboarding flows while segmenting the customers, which helps you test your present workflow as well.
You can sync the tool with your favourite marketing platforms like SalesForce, HubSpot, KISSmetrics, etc. Using the ability to sync these platforms, you can also improve customer engagement. It will even help you personalize the walkthrough to the extent that you can customize patterns such as where, when and how you can use the product with the help of tooltips, and hotspots.
Features of AppCues:
- Audience targeting
- Highly customizable options
- Behavioral targeting
- User permissions
- A/B Testing
- Unlimited flows
- In-product messaging
- Ability to send data to CRM
With AppCues, you can get pivotal information about customers and their experience by collecting NPS scores, product feedback declared data by them, and so on. It will make your product experience much better and allows you to make great product decisions. AppCues allows you to use branching logic to create multiple paths based on the intention of the user.
Customer onboarding tool #3. Optimizely:
It is a powerful enterprise-grade tool that allows you to run multiple experiments on your web experience. Optimizely even offers a full-stack solution which gives product teams the ability to test A/B products and features. You can even control how many new users will see each of your experiments. It allows you to measure the actions based on which you can make business decisions.
Thanks to its superior abilities and A/B testing experiments, you will be able to find better customer onboarding touchpoints, better CTAs, and so on. It will even help you use user behavior to find more ways to onboard users.
Features of Optimizely:
- Dynamic websites support
- Analytics integrations
- A/B testing
- Platform security
- Experimentation on multiple pages
- Ability to control the reach of experiments
Optimizely allows you to collect in-depth insights in the form of graphs, reports, and statistics. This customer onboarding tool understands that each user is unique, and they have different motivations and objectives, so it refines the customer onboarding process by letting you create different experiences for the user. With Optimizely, you do not have to indulge in guesswork as you will be able to understand what is working and what is not.
Customer onboarding tool #4. Whatfix:
Whatfix is that customer onboarding tool that equips you with real-time interactive guides and attractive designs to capture the attention of the user. It concentrates on analyzing customer engagement by measuring it with advanced analytics.
Features of Whatfix:
- Engagements at multiple touchpoints
- Smart targeting
- User-level tracking
- Easy to create guides for the walkthrough
- Frames support
- GDPR compliant
- Omnichannel presence
- Useful widgets
- Audience segmentation
- Advanced analytics
It is a flexible onboarding tool as it allows you to use different formats for the walkthrough. With Whatfix, you can send real-time, in-app messages to solve customer queries immediately. Instances like this elevate the experience for the customer. With Whatfix’s guided workflow, your users will be able to navigate the website/application with relative ease. It will ensure that each user can complete their tasks accurately and efficiently.
Whatfix even has automation features that make it easy to reduce the amount of time required for the users to make themselves familiarized with the tool. Its advanced tracking and analytics allow you to create product walkthroughs that will help your users achieve at least one goal.
Customer onboarding tool #5. Auth0:
How easy is it for your users to log in to your app? Imagine if it was a complicated process? There would be so many users who will not bother to check-in. The easier it is for logging in, the more likely are they to use the product and start the onboarding process. Enabling social login or a single click to sign-in should be great.
Auth0 keeps the friction in the login process as minimal as possible. Since it provides authentication and authorization as a service, your users can log in easily using any 3rd party app. Google, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook or even the user’s Gmail ID is more than enough to log in. Businesses have noticed that when there are social login options, the conversion rates are higher than usual.
Features of Auth0:
- Multiple integrations
- Customer Management
- Password breach detection
- 100+ in-built rules for customizations
- Highly secure
Here’s one of the best things about Auth0, developers can connect applications written in any language or stack and integrate them. It reduces the resistance in the onboarding process but also captures your data securely and prevents anyone from maliciously logging in into the system. If you focus on providing a great product experience, the first step of logging in should be made extremely smooth, and Auth0 does a really good job of it.
Customer onboarding tool #6. Intercom.io:
Let’s say you have updated a new feature on your application, and you want to inform your users that there has been a new feature, here’s what you can do- create a filter through the Intercom dashboard and it will be immediately visible to them. It allows you to send in-app messages to help users with the onboarding process and lets you send targeted emails according to user actions.
Features of Intercom:
- In-app prompts
- Personalized engagement messages
- Targeted emails
- Event-triggered messages
- Team inbox to manage all queries
- Live chat options
Another good thing about Intercom.io is that the pricing system works on the number of users you have, and it is easy to find out your rates as it is available in the form of a slider. There are various integration options available which make it possible to provide an exciting onboarding experience. With Intercom, businesses can communicate with their customers on their website, mobile applications, on the web, and over email.
Intercom’s engagement with customers is more personalized than all the other tools that are available in the market. They have also created a public knowledge base of collaterals that make it easy to get quick answers. You can use a plethora of channels to engage with your users.
Customer onboarding tool #7. LoginRadius:
It is a cloud-based Customer Identity and Access Management platform that is simplified, secure, robust and comes with a variety of customization options. It will also have a variety of integrations with marketing tools. LoginRadius offers a customizable customer experience and user interface, which ensures that the registration process, login time, and password recovery options are streamlined.
Features of LoginRadius:
- Multiple login options from social media channels
- Customizable login interfaces
- 3rd party integrations
- Scalable to tens of millions of users
- Enterprise solutions
- Advanced developer products
- Data privacy regulations compliance
LoginRadius is available for web and mobile applications and websites. Based on the type of registration required, it offers many more options for the user. Thanks to its ability to take care of registration and authentication services, it saves a lot of time for the business as well as the user.
Customer onboarding tool #8. Tour My App:
This customer onboarding tool helps users identify your value proposition faster than the other tools in the market. Creating the onboarding process with Tour My App is easy because you can do the entire program without having to code. With its in-app guided tours, it is easy to increase user engagement. It guides your users as they use the application.
Features of Tour My App:
- Built-in analytics dashboard
- Codeless creation of tutorials
- Full customization options
- Multilingual tours
- Supports dynamic elements and Ajax
The business has complete control over how the tour appears for the user. If you want them to complete a certain action, then you can provide such a scenario so that the users do not skip the important steps. The application also knows who has seen the guided tour and how much of it so that they don’t have to repeat the entire thing again. You can easily make changes on the tour that you create for your users.
Customer onboarding tool #9. Zendesk:
It allows you to create an online help centre so that your users can be onboarded faster. The help centre has sections where the user can access FAQs, step-by-step articles, and find a community of users who have gone through the same thing that you did.
Features of Zendesk:
- Self-serving helpdesk
- Knowledgebase
- Tracks and solves customer queries
- Live chat support options
- Enhances productivity
With Zendesk, you can offer personalized support for the customers, which helps the onboarding process. Thanks to its personalized support, you can even make sure that the customer completes a task so that they feel as if they have gained from your app. It is important for a user as it helps them understand how they can use the app by themselves.
Customer onboarding tool #10. Userlane:
It is a customer onboarding and retention tool that is a favorite with SaaS companies. Userlane helps new and existing customers to wade through the different features and options available in a tool so that they can make full use of it. It has an interactive on-screen guidance solution that is of immense help to new users as it leaves no room for confusion.
Features of Userlane:
- In-app communication
- An interactive guide that records your path
- Get insights into user management
- Navigation mode
- Flexible Editor Bar
Userlane provides the most personalized UX to end users so that immediate results can be achieved. It doesn’t just add elements in the UI, it provides a completely interactive experience so that your users can be familiar with your tool with little effort.
Customer Onboarding process:
Getting the new user acquainted with the application is the main objective behind using customer onboarding tools. The flow depends on what the user needs, so there cannot be a one-size-fits-all solution for each customer.
Here is how we think the user onboarding process should unfold:
#1 Your first email:
Create a positive tone when you are first connecting with your customer. Let them know that you are extremely happy that they have taken your service and that you would be working to ensure that they have an amazing experience with you.
Here’s the sample of a welcome email that you can send:
Hi Richard,
We are so glad to have you on board!
The team at (insert company name) is excited to make you take full use of our online survey tool. Let’s help you get started with your first survey.
Please sign up, choose a template and start sending surveys to your customers.
Thanks,
Janice,
Customer Success Manager,
(company name)
#2 Welcome video:
Videos are one of the best ways to welcome a new customer. Greet them and tell them how the onboarding process will work. It will keep them excited and prod the end-user to go to the next steps.
#3 Set up your guide:
Take your users through the entire setup process in the form of a tutorial. Use easy to understand language. Ensure that the tutorial doesn’t take up a lot of time, and each of the touchpoints is explained clearly.
#4 Explain features:
Use a tooltip to specifically mention any features which you think are pivotal to the user.
There will be features which might not have data present in it, without which it will look empty. Fill up this space with content that will make sense for your users, preferably educational content that will guide them on how to leverage the product better.
#5 Create an interactive walkthrough:
The objective of an onboarding tool is to ensure that the customers know how to effectively use the product after the end of the process. It is best achieved by letting the customers use the product themselves. Interactive features let the users have a whiff of the tool by taking action. The process that you create should be relatable for the user so that there is more clarity with regards to the project.
#6 Prepare a knowledge base:
It is a resource section that provides a user with everything that is needed to work on the tool by themselves. A knowledgebase ensures that there is very little assistance that will be required from your customer success team as the users are equipped with every material that is needed to solve their problems.
#7 Encourage each milestone:
Every time your user accomplishes something using a new feature, make it a point to celebrate it. It will make them feel good, and they will work towards using the application more.
Best practices for customer onboarding:
Know your customer:
Finding out your buyer persona is the first thing all businesses should do. Without knowing who your customers are, you can never give them what they want because you will not know what they want.
Have clear expectations:
Ensure that your customer knows what they sign up for. Your copywriter is responsible for ensuring that the users understand what your offering is. The onboarding process also should harp on how your product provides value to the user. It will help them be prepared for any eventualities.
Show how you solve their problem:
We have said this so many times; your clients do not care how many features your product has. All they care about is how they will be benefited by those features. They want to know how a particular feature will solve the pain points that they have been having. Be specific when it comes to explaining them about it.
Help them achieve goals:
Each of your customers has unique goals that are specific to their business. So a cookie-cutter walkthrough will not help their cause. Let them define what success for them is, and you can help them create measurable goals so that they will reach there easily.
Create positive experiences:
Even after a customer signs up for your service, they will still have doubts. It is your responsibility to ensure that they get the full benefits from your product. You need to ensure that they complete their goals and always find easier ways to utilize your product. Create a walkthrough guide that will impress them so much that they become regular users of your product.
Measure, Measure, Measure:
You need to know the effectiveness of your onboarding strategy so that you know what is working and which part needs improvement. It is the only way you can keep refining your onboarding process.
Roll out a customer feedback survey:
It’s always advised to know your customer sentiments prior to using your product or service. If your customer onboarding tool doesn’t let you send online surveys, you can use SurveySparrow’s online survey tool. Roll out customer feedback surveys, identify your customer preferences, share online surveys through email, SMS, QR codes, make surveys that are multi device compatible and understand your customers better than ever.
Wrapping up..
User onboarding is a critical part of your customer success strategy. If this fails or if there is no strategy in the first place, getting your user to engage with your application will take a long time, and it might even end up in them asking for refunds. But these onboarding tools aren’t the whole answer; it is a cog in your wheel. Onboarding tools work exceptionally well when they are a part of your overall strategy as it complements everything else. Be wise when you choose an onboarding tool for your end users because it is one of the first impressions that they will have as a customer.
